Wisconsin women drop second straight ahead of West Coast swing

The Wisconsin women fall at home to Minnesota, drop to 10-4 overall

The Wisconsin women dropped their second straight, falling at home to Minnesota on Tuesday. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With a long road trip out West on the horizon, the Wisconsin women came up short on Tuesday at home vs. Minnesota, 59-50.

The Badgers (10-4, 1-2) will now regroup as they head to Oregon on Saturday followed by a stop at Washington next Tuesday before returning home to host No. 8 Maryland and 10th-ranked Ohio State. 

A 23-4 opening quarter by the Gophers (14-1, 2-1) put Wisconsin in an early hole that they couldn’t climb out of. From that point on, they outscored 46-36, as Serah Williams had 16 and Ronnie Porter 13.

For Minnesota, Amaya Battle had 13, Grace Grocholski 12 and Sophie Hart added 11. The Gophers held a plus-five edge on the glass and scored seven more fast break points to help offset a 47 percent effort from the free throw line.

Wisconsin committed 14 turnovers and made just 4 of 17 3-point attempts, shooting under 36 percent from the floor.

Williams had a double-double, grabbing 11 rebounds while Porter had eight rebounds and four assists. Halle Douglass added eight points, three rebounds and two assists off the bench.

Maryland and Ohio State are tied with top-ranked UCLA, No. 4 USC and Indiana at 2-0 in the conference standings.